Howard Purcell, OD Joins Essilor as VP Customer Development

DALLAS--Dr. Howard Purcell has joined Essilor of America, Inc. as vice president of customer development. In his newly created role, Purcell will continue to build on Essilor’s current successes, while increasing coordination and visibility among the brand sales, professional relations and eyecare professional education groups.

 
Howard Purcell
“We are truly excited to have someone of Dr. Purcell’s strength and reputation,” said John Carrier, president, Essilor of America. “With his knowledge and leadership, we anticipate new avenues of customer partnership and growth.” Before joining Essilor, Purcell served as senior director of new program development for Vistakon, a division of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Inc. In this role, he led Johnson & Johnson’s professional support for the upcoming Olympic Games with responsibility for global strategy, as well as program development and coordination. At Vistakon, Howard was responsible for developing and managing The Vision Care Institute which is known today as an industry benchmark in education and customer relations.

Before Vistakon, Purcell progressed in academic leadership roles including assistant professor, chairman of the Cornea & Contact Lenses Department, and deputy dean at Nova Southeastern University’s College of Optometry. Purcell holds a doctorate in optometry from the New England College of Optometry. He also earned a bachelor’s degree in optometry from the same institution. He is a Diplomate of the American Academy of Optometry and was recently honored as a Distinguished Scholar Member in the National Academies of Practice.


Advantica EyeCare Names Andy Davis Senior VP, Sales and Marketing

CLEARWATER, Fla.--Managed-vision firm Advantica EyeCare has hired Andy Davis as its senior vice president of sales and marketing.

Davis started his career in human resources at Raymond James Financial Services. Most recently, he was a large-group account executive at Aetna.

“Andy will be a tremendous asset in managing our business development team and marketing initiatives,” said Richard Sanchez, Advantica’s president and chief executive officer.

Bumerts Named National Sales Manager for Briot USA

 

Andrew Bumerts

CUMMING, Ga.--Briot USA, based here, has named Andrew Bumerts as national sales manager. In his new role, Bumerts will be responsible for driving the company’s sales efforts.

Bumerts is an optical industry veteran with over 30 years of experience. He has been the South Central territory sales manager with Briot USA for the past 11 years.






CooperVision Names Aragon President, Asia Pacific

FAIRPORT, N.Y.--CooperVision, a division of The Cooper Companies (NYSE: COO), has appointed Juan Carlos Aragon to the position of president for the Asia Pacific region. Aragon has more than 20 years of experience within the contact lens industry, both as an international business leader, and as an optometrist. Since beginning with the company in 2000, Juan Carlos has held several positions within CooperVision, most recently as president, Latin America. Prior to that, he was the vice president of international marketing and business operations.

Hydrogel Vision Names Deb Bulken Director of Sales for Northeast

 
 Deb Bulken
SARASOTA, Fla.--Contact lens manufacturer Hydrogel Vision recently named Deb Bulken its director of sales for the Northeastern U.S.

Bulken has 21 years experience in the CL industry with CIBA Vision; most recently, she managed seven regions and 54 sales representatives as CIBA’s north area sales director.

In her new position, Bulken is teaming up with Jim Massa, Edward Lohmann and Peggy Schuster in similar roles partnering with distributors and developing key practitioner account business, according to Hydrogel Vision.

Bulken now has responsibility for managing the Northeastern U.S., Massa is responsible for the Central U.S. and Lohmann retains responsibility for the Western U.S., while Schuster takes over the Southeastern U.S., a company announcement said.